GUATEMALA CITY - About 8,000 protesters - most of them teachers - demonstrated Tuesday in the capital against a pending free-trade agreement between Central America and the United States.

The protesters want a public referendum held before the Guatemalan Congress ratifies the Central American Free Trade Agreement - an idea already ruled out by President Oscar Berger.

Along with the United States, countries that have signed the free-trade agreement include Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic.

"The congressmen are making unilateral and crazy decisions behind the Guatemalan people's back," said teachers union leader Joviel Acevedo.

CAFTA also faces difficulties in the United States. President Bush has said the accord would open new markets for the U.S. while encouraging economic and democratic reforms in Central America, but he didn't have the votes in 2004. He may not have support this year either because of competition fears among U.S. sugar and textile producers.

Guatemala's Congress plans to take up the concessions law this week, while the legislature's foreign trade commission indicated that it could approve CAFTA as early as Thursday, the last step before it goes to the full Congress for a vote.